Washington Huskies men's Zoom Diallo heads to Kentucky

A week after his surprising exit from the Washington men's basketball team, Zoom Diallo is joining the Kentucky Wildcats.

He posted the announcement on his social media accounts Wednesday after ESPN's Jonathan Givony broke the news.

Diallo, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard from Tacoma, spent the past two years at Washington where he averaged 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists while starting 51 of 64 games.

Last season, he was second among the Huskies in points (15.7 per game), first in assists (4.5) and third in rebounding (3.9) while starting 29 of 33 games. He shot 48.9% from the field, 31.5% on three-pointers and 82.5% on free throws.

Diallo, a former McDonald's All-American who led Curtis Place High in University Place to back-to-back Class 4A state championships (2022 and '23) before transferring to Prolific Prep (Calif.) for his senior season, was ranked No. 34 nationally among players in the transfer portal by ESPN.

It's a huge addition for Kentucky coach Mark Pope, the former Newport High standout who played two years at Washington (1991-93) before transferring to Kentucky.

The Wildcats are also a finalist for Rainier Beach High standout Tyran Stokes, who visited UK last week and is also considering Kansas and Oregon.

Diallo's departure is a huge blow to Washington, which lost six players to the transfer portal including JJ Mandaquit, who is headed to Arizona and Christian Nitu, who is joining McNeese State.

Other UW portal exits include Franck Kepnang, Desmond Claude and Courtland Muldrew.

Hannes Steinbach and Bryson Tucker are leaving to enter the NBA draft.

Washington returns starter Wesley Yates III and reserves Lathan Sommerville, Nikola Dzepina, Jasir Rencher and Mady Traore, who sat out last season because of a foot injury, from a team that finished 16-17 during the 2025-26 season.

The Huskies added Davidson transfer Parker Friedrichsen and will need to secure many more before the portal closes Tuesday.

NCAA Division I men's basketball teams are allowed to carry 15 players on the roster.

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This story was originally published April 15, 2026 at 4:52 PM.